PR
A recruitment leader and a staunch advocate against a ban on nurse deployment urged today nurses applying for work in the UK to speed up the processing of their documents for deployment to the UK as the cap on nurses deployment is nearing the 5,000 cap imposed by the government for 2021.
Mr. Lito Soriano, President of LBS E-Recruitment Solutions, Corp., in a letter to the Philippine UK Nurses Association said that the 5,000 cap will soon be reached by either April or May and that those nurses who have already invitations to NHS hospitals should speed up processing of their documents before the 5k cap is filled up.
British Ambassador Daniel Pruce has already requested DOLE Secretary Bello to lift the deployment ban so that more Filipino nurses can enter the country. UK Ambassador Pruce also mentioned that the UK needs at least 15,000 more foreign nurses to fill the gap in the nursing sector of NHS Hospitals and Care Homes. Though Secretary Silvestre Bello III has already said that he is in favor of lifting the cap for UK and he has recommended this to the IATF there has been no decision yet from the IATF on this request.
In a related matter, Atty. Francisco de Guzman former PASEI President has written a letter to the POEA Board to remind the POEA that up to this date there is no IATF resolution, DOLE Department Order, Circular or Advisory, POEA Governing Board Resolution or Advisory or Circular, specifically exempting UK bound nurses or HCWs from the deployment imposed by POEA G.B. resolution No. 9. Series 2020 that imposed 5k cap on HCWs.
Meanwhile Mr. Lito Soriano reiterated his request with the POEA that BM or Balik-Mangagawa nurses on vacation or contract renewal should not be included in the 5K cap for HCWs this 2021.
Soriano estimates that there are over 20,000 nurses who are BMs, majority of whom are working in Saudi Arabia’s military and government hospitals. These nurses are not included anymore in the Philippine Health System data as they have been working for the past 20 years in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries.
